Census 2016: Australia's image obsession has triggered a job surge

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This was published 6 years ago

Census 2016: Australia's image obsession has triggered a job surge

By Eryk Bagshaw and Peter Martin
Updated

An image and health-obsessed Australia has provided a jobs boon for fitness instructors and beauty therapists.

That is the verdict from the latest round of census figures, delivered on Monday four months after the first release in June with a focus on how and where we work, internal migration, education and methods of travel.

It shows the number of people working as beauty therapists and fitness instructors has surged by more than 25 per cent since 2011, despite the country's population climbing by less than 9 per cent.

If you live in Greater Sydney or Greater Melbourne you are now more likely to work in a hospital than in any other place. Almost 4 per cent, or 80,000 Melburnians now work in a hospital, while 3.4 per cent do the same in Sydney.

The number of people working as fitness instructors has surged by more than 25 per cent since 2011.

The number of people working as fitness instructors has surged by more than 25 per cent since 2011. Credit: Ken Irwin

Melbourne's love of food, coffee and bars is reflected in its employment figures. They are the city's next largest employer, making up 2.5 per cent of all workers.

Sydney's financial services boom has become a key driver in NSW, with 2.5 per cent of all employees in the capital in computer services and banking, while cafes and restaurants follow closely behind.

Supermarket and grocery stores figure in the top five for both cities, with more than 45,000 employees in each. The higher education boom has pushed the industry to become the fifth highest employer in Melbourne, making up 1.8 per cent of all employees.

At the same time, the economy-wide shift to part-time work is reflected in the number of average hours worked by Australians falling from 35.1 to 34.6 per week, with twice as many women working part-time as men.

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The number of people working as beauty therapists has surged by more than 27 per cent since 2011.

The number of people working as beauty therapists has surged by more than 27 per cent since 2011. Credit: Melanie Russell

You are more likely to work part-time in Melbourne [31 per cent] than you are in Sydney [28 per cent], where residents are also more likely to work for longer.

Up to 45.8 per cent of Sydneysiders work 40 hours or more per week, 43 per cent do the same in Melbourne.

People aged under 30 were are most likely to be fast food cooks, bartenders, baristas, waiters or sportspeople.

People aged under 30 were are most likely to be fast food cooks, bartenders, baristas, waiters or sportspeople. Credit: Christopher Pearce

Those jobs that have historically had fewer hours are among the fastest growing with 23 per cent more baristas and bar attendants than there were in 2011.

Likewise, only 16 per cent of workers are now putting in 49 hours or more, most of them men, down from 17.8 per cent.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics figures also show the push towards the service economy is in full swing, with the number of workers in the community and personal service sector up 19 per cent since the last time they were tallied.

Likewise in health care and social assistance, where one in every eight workers now make their money [one in every seven in the older states of South Australia and Tasmania].

Age also makes a difference to the types of jobs we are performing.

While those under 30 were most likely to be fast food cooks, bartenders, baristas, waiters or sportspeople, those over 60 were more likely than younger groups to be livestock and crop farmers, caretakers and bus drivers.

Between the genders, the industries historically dominated by men, such as manufacturing and mining, are on the way down, as women take on more positions in some of the fastest growing areas such as healthcare, social assistance and education.

The gender gap is widest in technical and trades industries, which have 84 per cent male employees, while 74 per cent of health professionals and 63 per cent of legal, social and welfare professionals are female.

"Alongside this, we are seeing the proportion of men in employment decrease over time, while for women it is increasing," census program manager Bindi Kindermann said.

The contrast with 1966 is striking. Female employment is up from 34 per cent of all women to 56 per cent today.

Male employment has slipped from 83 to 65 per cent of all men.

But the extra time in the workforce for women is not being made up by extra hours at home for men. Women in full-time employment are twice as likely as similar men to do at least 15 hours unpaid work a week. That's almost 20 per cent of women compared to 8 per cent of men.

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The census also allows us to see levels of employment along cultural lines.

The highest levels of employment were among residents born in Nepal, with four out five adults employed at the time of the census, followed by 76 per cent of migrants from Zimbabwe, 73 per cent from Brazil, 72 per cent from South Africa and 71 per cent from Canada.

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